This dataset contains the spatial metadata of the complete collection of aerial photos of the National Geographic Institute (NGI), from 1946 to today. The aerial photos themselves are not part of the dataset. The collection comprises more than 100,000 aerial photos. The images are predominantly panchromatic (black and white). From the late 1970s onwards, colour images were also taken, and from the end of 2004 onwards all images were taken in colour. The analogue aerial photos in the collection were scanned in high resolution. More recent aerial photos were captured directly in digital format. This specific dataset includes three layers: the centroids (centre points) of the individual aerial photos, the footprints (the outlines of the area on the ground covered by each photo), and the flight paths of the aircraft used during image acquisition. For each aerial photo, all known metadata is included in the attribute table, such as the acquisition date, the flight and the strip, the dimensions, the scale, the ground resolution, the radiometry (black and white or colour), the coordinates of the centre point, and the camera, lens and film used. This data makes it possible to find out which aerial photos are available for a given location and period, and what the characteristics of each photo are. The data can be consulted via the associated web service (WFS). The aerial photos can be ordered in high resolution via https://shop.ngi.be/nl/luchtfotos/.